Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Renault SA, France’s second-biggest
carmaker, is targeting growth in 2013 with new models after
recessions in Europe led to the company’s first annual delivery
drop in four years.

Sales fell 6.3 percent to 2.55 million cars and light
commercial vans in 2012 from 2.72 million vehicles a year
earlier, the carmaker said today in a statement. Deliveries
dropped 6 percent at the main Renault brand while rising 4.8
percent at the low-cost Dacia marque.

Renault rose to a 10-month high after saying it plans in
2013 to bolster its share of the market in Europe, where the
manufacturer has lost buyers to competitors such as Volkswagen
AG. The automaker is trying to reduce reliance on the region by
building or buying factories in North Africa, China and Russia.
Sales in 2012 outside Europe accounted for more than half of
Renault’s deliveries for the first time, it said today.

“The internationalization is a reality,” Jerome Stoll,
the head of sales, said at a press conference at Renault
headquarters in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt.
“We’re clearly expecting a growth in volume in all regions,
including Europe, on the basis of our forecasts.”

Stock Jumps

Renault jumped as much as 3.6 percent to 43.27 euros, the
highest intraday price since March 14, and was trading up 2.5
percent at 11:47 a.m. in Paris. The stock has surged 34 percent
in the past 12 months, valuing the carmaker at 12.7 billion
euros ($17 billion).

The carmaker’s plan for European delivery gains contrasts
with predictions by Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn and
other industry leaders that the region’s market will shrink a
sixth consecutive year in 2013. Renault reiterated a forecast
today that manufacturers’ sales in Europe this year will fall by
about 3 percent.

“Renault will benefit from a better base effect than its
competitors in Europe, especially given their new product
range,” Xavier Caroen, a Paris-based analyst at Kepler Capital
Markets who recommends buying the shares, said.

The company’s sales in its home market fell 25 percent to
551,314 cars and vans, reducing its group market share to 24.2
percent in 2012, Renault said. The manufacturer accounted for
26.1 percent of car sales in the country in 2011. Outside
France, Renault’s deliveries in Europe fell 17 percent, it said.

Moody’s Reduction

The delivery drop and contracting European economy prompted
Moody’s Investors Service to cut its long-term debt rating for
Renault’s RCI Banque customer-finance division today by one
level to Baa3, the lowest investment grade, from Baa2.

Non-European markets generated 50.2 percent of Renault’s
deliveries last year compared with 43.1 percent in 2011, it
said. Renault posted sales increases of 22 percent in the
Eurasia marketing region, which includes Russia and other former
Soviet states, and 14 percent in the Americas.

Sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose 0.4 percent as gains
in China were offset by drop in South Korea, where the Renault
Samsung division is reorganizing.

Renault began selling a new version of its Clio hatchback
in the fourth quarter. The carmaker will hold an “event” every
10 days this year to introduce models, starting with the Captur,
its first crossover, and including bringing new versions or
updates of vehicles into new markets, Stoll said today.

Job Cuts

Renault plans to eliminate 7,500 jobs through 2016 in
France, including 5,700 posts that will disappear when employees
retire or quit and aren’t replaced. It’s also holding talks with
unions in France on ways to raise productivity, asking for a 6.5
percent increase in work hours and greater mobility between
factories.

The job cuts are intended to reduce fixed costs by 396
million euros, Dominique Chauvin, head of the CFE-CGC union at
Renault, said on Jan. 15. The carmaker doesn’t plan to shutter
any factories, CEO Ghosn said that day. Gerard Leclercq, head of
operations in France, said Renault will work toward an agreement
with unions to ensure all departures are voluntary.

The workforce reductions are among 30,000 announced by
carmakers in Europe since July because of the shrinking market.
Manufacturers planning cutbacks through plant shutdowns include
Paris-based PSA Peugeot Citroen, General Motors Co.’s Opel brand
in Germany and Ford Motor Co. in the U.K. and Belgium, while
Fiat SpA is scaling back operations in Poland.

Renault plans to build a factory in Algeria near the city
of Oran, with eventual annual capacity to produce 75,000
vehicles, the company said Dec. 18. As part of the expansion,
the French manufacturer and Japanese partner Nissan Motor Co.
are ramping up production at a 1 billion-euro plant in the
Moroccan port city of Tangier.

Renault and Nissan signed a final agreement on Dec. 12 to
take control of Lada-model maker OAO AvtoVAZ in Russia and
invest 23 billion rubles ($759 million) in the new venture.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathieu Rosemain in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, via
mrosemain@bloomberg.net